With the following statement, I acknowledge that I should probably once again turn in my Metal card. But, none the less, I shall say it: I never heard a single full Sabaton album before. Yes, yes, gasp, shock, horror and awe. There, I said it. But, at least I’ve heard some songs in the past, unlike my experience with Asphyx which was nonexistent until recently.

As of late, I’ve been really down in the dumps. My health hasn’t been too good, and I’ve scraping by every week by watching my hours at work get cut every month. Problems at home and with my health were making it hard to live on my own and support my fiancee as much as I can (as in groceries, transportation, things like that due to her having lost her job). The drive to keep this site active had been broken by plenty of people and corporations after money I don’t have. As you might not know, but is not private knowledge, I suffer from Multiple Sclerosis, and was one of the youngest diagnoses cases, having lived with it now for almost ten years.

Every month I have to get an I.V. for the Tysabri I am on, a medication with the potential to kill me, as well as sink me tens of thousands of dollars in the hole every month since my medical coverage was revoked, and no one will take me due to this condition. This means sitting in a room with other sickly people three hours a month, some younger than me now, some already sitting at Death’s door with his shadow looming over them, and many a little older than the age I was diagnosed at. This doesn’t help, and lately I’ve gone myself (though not recomended of course) so I can bring my laptop with me to listen to some music, kick back, and let the Benadryl knock me out the entire time. This usually helps me cope a lot better than Good Morning America and The Ellen Degenerous Show, the staple programs on by the time I get there. The day before the medication was fed into my system this month, Nuclear Blast sent out copies of Carolus Rex to the press. I figured it was time to educate myself on the Sabaton effect, and expected the most ouf of it in my time of need.

I admit that I still have yet to hear the entire thing, but if you get an hour long fee of medication that is known to cause drowsiness in simple pill form, I’m sue you can understand that I did eventually pass out. But, before that, I had the honor to hear many of the songs from the album. “Dominium Maris Baltici” immediately grabbed my attention with how heavy and authoritive it came off, instantly perking my spirits and giving me a great deal of energy, and the epic “A Lifetime of War” nearly moved me to tears as I sat there with how powerful and passionate it was. “1 6 4 8” was a solid offering that had a lighter tone with sharper guitars, proclaiming true Heavy Metal, casting me back to the first two Hammerfall albums (though I some of this I’ve heard before on one of their releases, if not those) that I personally love. I cranked the headphones to max. I didn’t care if anyone else heard it.

The marching “The Carolean’s Prayer” really grabbed me and honestly just felt like what I needed thanks to the stern and energetic performance that spoke volumes for the group. The additional keyboards in the background that felt a little eightiest Synth-driven just made it complete, and the bass-heavy passages helped to build my spirits back up with what felt like a genuinely declaration of war, v me the strength to smile and rediscovering the drive to forge on amid the problems I’ve been facing. But, this was about the time the medications kicked in, and I don’t really remember much else if I was even conscious for it…

As I type this, I’m revisiting these songs and more, and sitting here just as moved. For me to say I’ve never heard anything as powerful as this would be a lie, but it’s the first I’ve heard in such a long time. It’s rare that I can honestly find an album that single handedly pulls me out of a severe depression. With only Annihilator‘s Criteria for a Black Widow and Ayreon‘s The Human Equation, as well as the first half of The Fall of Ideals by All That Remains ever really sparking that kind of emotional pull from me, I’m delighted to say that I’ve found a new album to throw into the category of inspiring albums for when I’m at the lowest I can possibly be, the kind where I’m drowning from the hell of other people and can’t get out without that arm reaching through the sea of madness to grab ahold of mine and pull me back to shore of sanity and rational thinking, where the voices screaming in the back of my head go silenced once more instead of leaving me gasping for air.

Of course you’ll never know how much this means to me, but then again, this is the Metal world we’re talking about. A lot of today’s most influential groups exist because of bands that once moved the people involved in some way. Surely everyone involved in Sabaton has an album or a band that can do the same thing, or suffered a similar problem. If not on a medical level, but perhaps a more personal one, or others that are not really something light should ever be cast upon. But, for a man who has been beaten down damn near his entire life by everyone else, it means the world to be able to find the strength to go on through the inspiring words, force, and passion of Metal, and of course Carolus Rex.

If you haven’t caught the concept of what I am saying, it’s pretty simple. From every fiber of my being, you did what no medication or person in my life right now had been able to do for the past year. You gave me strength. You gave me direction. You helped me gain control of myself once more. I no longer have to wear a mask to help everyone else survive the struggle while I suffocate under the pressure of my own problems that others seem to ignore, or just did not pay enough attention to notice. And I just wanted to say thank you.